Liberty
Matters News Service
July 19, 2006
IRS Bows to New Boss Paulson
The ink was hardly dry on the Henry Paulson Treasury Secretary deal before the IRS tweaked its rules to allow its new boss to avoid a 20 percent penalty on the sale of his extensive Goldman Sachs stock. Congress passed legislation in 2004 that placed a 20 percent penalty on executives who cash out deferred compensation plans early. The IRS had been planning to change their guidelines to exempt executives who have to get rid of their long-term compensation deals to comply with government conflict-of-interest rules, but there had been no urgency until the Paulson situation arose. "But when the caliber is raised to the secretary of the Treasury," said Treasury spokesman Sean Kevelighan, "it does make sense to accelerate it a bit." The new rules will allow Paulson to duck nearly $100 million in taxes on the sale of his 3.23 million shares of stock, estimated to be worth around $480 million. Paulson, who is worth over $700 million, will still have to pay regular income taxes on the deferred compensation.
IRS Allows Paulson to Sell Stock
Holdings
Iowa Legislature Overrides Eminent Domain Veto
The Iowa Legislature convened in a special session last week to overturn Governor Thomas Vilsack's veto of an eminent domain bill that would limit the power of state and local governments to replace privately-owned homes and businesses with other private interests. The House voted 90 to 8 against the governor and the Senate followed suit, 41 to 8. State Sen. Gene Fraise, D-Fort Madison, voted against the override because, he said; "It will stymie cities from taking care of slum areas and blighted areas." The vote may face legal challenges, however, because of a 1998 Attorney General ruling that said it was illegal for the Legislature to hold a special session expressly to override a veto after the end of the regular session. "We have no reason to read the law differently today," said Attorney General Tom Miller. State Rep. Phil Wise said, "There is the possibility [that] some organization will challenge the legality of what we did. It could get to the Iowa Supreme Court."
Wise, Fraise Split on Override of
Veto
Disastrous Federal Livestock Program
In 2002, the Bush Administration decided to help drought-stricken farmers and ranchers by offering a program to compensate livestock growers for drought-related losses. The relief program, the Livestock Compensation Program, (LCP) was meant to offer short-term help to dairy farmers and ranchers suffering through lengthy dry spells. To be eligible, recipients had to have operations in counties officially declared a disaster by the Secretary of Agriculture. Congress was soon besieged by other livestock growers who demanded relief from other "disasters" and the program was expanded in 2003 to cover much more than drought. Nico de Boer, a dairy farmer in East Texas, was surprised to learn he and hundreds of other East Texas ranchers, were eligible for up to $40,000 in disaster compensation following the break up of the space shuttle Columbia in February 2003. Following the shuttle explosion, President Bush declared the area a federal disaster which allowed hundreds of livestock growers to be eligible for relief payments under the generous 2003 LCP. Cooke County, Texas ranchers received $906,000 in 2003 because of an ice storm that occurred two years earlier. When an earthquake hit near Olympia, Washington in 2001, (causing minor damage) the president declared 22 nearby counties disaster areas resulting in compensation checks totaling nearly $4 million for Washington State dairy farmers and ranchers. In November 2002, Ben Brancel, head of USDA in Wisconsin informed livestock growers they weren't eligible for payments because there were no drought declarations issued for the state. In April 2003, however, Brancel sent out another message: "If you own eligible livestock in eligible counties you are eligible…[I]n these tough economic times, you don't want to miss the opportunity to receive money to help pay some of the bills." Wisconsin livestock growers collected $39 million. The Livestock Compensation Program ended up costing taxpayers $1.2 billion during its mercifully short duration in 2002 and 2003.
No Drought Required for Federal Drought Aid
Land Down Under Has Own ESA Problems
A few years ago, The Nature Conservancy and certain U. S. government agencies announced the "re-discovery" of the long lost Ivory-billed Woodpecker that sparked a frenzy of government spending and habitat protection programs to ensure its recovery. So far, there have been no additional sightings, but the area remains off-limits to much human activity. Australia has its own little trouble-making bird, the Coxen's fig-parrot. Even though the bird has not been seen since the 1980s, alleged sightings of the birds by opponents of the $200 million Paradise Dam in southeast Queensland brought the project to a standstill while the builder was forced to spend thousands to commission a study of the area. Just as in the United States, Australian taxpayers are being fleeced to protect species that probably don't exist. Almost $1 million of public money is being spent to save it from extinction, although ornithological consultant Glenn Holmes who searched unsuccessfully for the parrots in the 1990s thinks it is too late. "I think the last of them died out in the '80s," he said and believes the undocumented sightings are "politically motivated."